[20815] in APO-L
Advisors
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Pete Fagan)
Fri Aug 27 11:31:10 1999
Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 11:30:59 EDT
Reply-To: PAfagan@AOL.COM
From: Pete Fagan <PAfagan@AOL.COM>
To: APO-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU
Funny that this message should come up as it was a great discussion at the
Region II BLAST this past weekend. Please post your responses to the entire
list. This information is probably helpful to many on this list.
What are advisors supposed to do? Well that depends upon what you need them
to do. Each chapter has different needs. Some chapters run extremely
smoothly and do not need much in the way of advisor assistance. Others need
to rely on their advisors a lot. Please remember that your advisor has other
responsibilities at the college and may not be able to attend your meetings.
First step: determine your needs. (As an IG--> PG you will need a lot of
guidance and assistance. A more involved advisor might be desired.) Also
determine what it is that your school requires from advisors. Do advisors
need to sign PO requests or check requests (if your money is held in the
Student Activities Account.)? Do advisors need to sign contracts on behalf
of the school?
Then speak to the advisor(s) about what the chapter needs. Remember that
this might be a learning experience for the advisor as well. Ask the person
what he/ she feels that they should be doing as an advisor. Then move the
discussion from there. Each advisor will bring to the table something
different and there is no cookie cutter job description that you can use for
all advisors.
Also stop by your student activities office and speak to the person that has
clubs and ortganization as part of their duties, he/ she will have
information about advisement as well. What do advisors in other clubs and
organizations do at your school?
Advisors are not active members of the organization. They should not be
doing the work load. They are the guide on the side and not the sage on the
stage. It should not be an expectation that advisors attend events, it
should be encouraged. I know from personal experience that in addition to an
APO (PG) then chapter advisor and also running a hall and advising two other
groups, I could not be at every event held by the chapter and there are some
that it is not appropriate for the advisor to be present.
Hope that some of this helps. I would be interested to see what other folks
say about what advisors should be doing.
Fraternally,
Pete Fagan
APO: Region II Membership Chair
Real world: Assistant Director of Campus Programs and Student Activities
Siena College, Loudonville, NY
